Not sure how to proceed with Whonix 13

[ModifiedSpirit]

First off I am no expert in this area, just trying to learn as I go along.

Originally I was trying to update using the instructions on

Release Upgrade

But I kept having issues with the meta packages not being installed so I decided to do a fresh install of the Workstation and Gateway templates.

I made backups of the two TemplateVMs and pointed the other AppVMs to the newly created templates.

Removed both whonix-ws and whonix-gw templates with

$ sudo yum remove qubes-template-whonix-gw
$ sudo yum remove qubes-template-whonix-ws


Reinstalled using

$ sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-templates-community
qubes-template-whonix-gw
$ sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-templates-community
qubes-template-whonix-ws


Then redirected the AppVMs to the newly reinstalled target TemplateVM.

After running whonixcheck in sys-whonix, it says that I need to update my ‘whonix-gw’ TemplateVM (I’d assume that the workstation template will also need to be updated).

I thought that since I did a fresh install, I would not need to run any updates that might potentially give the Whonix meta packages warning.

My question is this, why does it still say I need updates if I installed the latest templates already?

P.S. I don’t know if it is relevant, but tor was not connecting after I reinstalled the TemplateVMs. I researched and found this snippet that did the trick.
$ sudo chown --recursive debian-tor:debian-tor /var/lib/tor

[entr0py]

@ModifiedSpirit

I made backups of the two TemplateVMs and pointed the other AppVMs to the newly created templates.

By “backups”, do you mean clones? I think it’s a good idea to use your clones as your TemplateVMs. In other words, stop right after this step. If you need the original templates in the future, you can always re-install them (as you did). I prefer this method to setting aside the clones and using re-installed templates, because when Whonix14 is released, you’ll be able to keep your existing templates, and install fresh Whonix14 templates without disrupting your workflow.

@ModifiedSpirit

My question is this, why does it still say I need updates if I installed the latest templates already?

Once Whonix 13 was released as a stable version, it was frozen (forever?). Any changes made to it are done through updates. So you would have installed the exact same template yesterday or the day it was released. Only the available updates would be different.

@ModifiedSpirit

I thought that since I did a fresh install, I would not need to run any updates that might potentially give the Whonix meta packages warning.

The meta package warning was a result of the Whonix 12 → 13 upgrade process. You will not encounter that error by installing updates to Whonix 13.

@ModifiedSpirit

P.S. I don’t know if it is relevant, but tor was not connecting after I reinstalled the TemplateVMs. I researched and found this snippet that did the trick.

Can you provide a link to where you found that solution? I’m not aware of any changes that are required to enable Tor functionality.

[Patrick]

How to Reinstall a TemplateVM

How to reinstall a template

@entr0py

Once Whonix 13 was released as a stable version, it was frozen (forever?)

Yes. (Frozen unless a stable upgrade has to be released.)